Length-adjustable ready-to-wear skirts



Nov. 22, 1955 N. BXERN LENGTH-ADJUSTABLE READY-TO-WEAR SKIRTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 5, 1952 FIG.

FIG. 3.

INVENTOR.

MTHANIEL [ER/V ATTORNEY Nov. 22, 1955 N BERN 2,724,120

LENGTH-ADJUSTABLE READY-TO-WEAR SKIRTS Filed Jan. 3, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 5. FIG. 7.

e reucgg INVENTOR? W1THANIEL BIERN ATTURNE) United States Patent 724,120 LENGTH-AMUSTABLE READY-TWWEAII IR S Nathaniel Biern, New York, N. Y. Anvlicationlauuary ,19 2, SbrialNc- 264,729-

Th s i v nt on r l-at s t a knitt l ng j t bl lggdqyvtocwiifl i' gfil'tment and rnorepa cularly, to a. knitted length-adjustable ready-.toawear skirt.

Ready-t -wear-k i cd garmen uch. as kirtsaremade in fine leng h d ar pro d with. a; sal g dge at the bottorn to prevent thekn-itted, .fabricfrorn unravel- Frequently the skirtyorother garment; is found; to. be o i ns. and it bct nm gin c ge is cut e f. to shorten the; garment to fit, a raw edge. is lefit at the bottom which allows the knitted fabric to unravel unless the raw dge is pecia ly r ais d aprevcnt nra lli g- Accordingly when acustorner buys a knitted suit orskirt; which; requires shortening to fit, the retailer determines the extent of the alteration and returns the. garment to the faculty where it is shortened and refinished with a new selvage edge by a Skilled. operator. This. not only entails a delay of severalweeks before the factory shortued. g r e s re d, t r finishing, the. stortcned. garment with; a new :sel-vage. edge is anexpensive. opera i n which s antially incre se e nalcost cf the refinished garment. Thedelayin, and cost of, ,s h orteni ng the, garment tends to discourageacustorner from buying a knitted; suit ora knittedskirt if the garment needs to, be shortened to fit the customer.

One object of this invention is. aready-torwear knitted garment which can easily be shortened and ref nished by he cus omer t e e e gth dj stmentt and pr c a completely refinished and ready-tomcat, knitted :garmerit,

Another object of this. invention is a .ready-to-wear knitted skirt which. can be selectiyely shortened at will t eff a p rali y 0t differen l ng h a justments whi hv are obtained by removing one or more selvage=edged bands, which bands are. knitted into the body of the fa c Pa allel. p ced relation, and form a p t t. t pattern, each s cc s ve sclv gc dg b ing; fif 'dv .v o pro m. he fa ic f om. nr ve ling when: he djo ning selvage-edged band is removed thus, exposing the. next alvage e ge nd. hor en ng he sk r tQ'a-n w finish ength whi h: s finedfby saidnewly xpose alvag edge,

Anoth r bje arcady-to-w ar k i ed skin which c n e. electi ely h r n y he removal of one. or-

more. space r u d c tche de ning drawth fi ach drawthreafi. being clearly distinguished from the. body of he knitted. fa r c by d tachable ma r hi h. can e s c tivcly opera ed for r m al e ther w h i associa ed drawthread' to shorten the skirt, or without its drawthr d. fsa drawthread. is. not c c used o; shorten h skirt-L Ano her. objec of. his. inven i n; i c dy w a adjustable knitted skirt having removable rounds of itches.parallelingthe bot m edge. of. th skirt in p ce la nt e h s id re le round. of. stit h eing specifically distinguished by a pull-tab detaehably a1,

tachedto the end'of' sai'd round of stitches to indicate a. said pull tab may be operated, to. of the drawthread with which said drawthread, sothat initiate the removal ice 2 mill-tab is'associated if the adjoining edge band is to be removed, or may be detached from, the knitted fabric independently of and. without disturbing the; drawthread with which the pull-tab is associated.

Other objects will appear from the detailed description which. follows.

In accordance with this invention the fabricof the skirt (for exampleLis, knitted as in matching Panels upon a knitting machine, or in any other rnanner,,so thateach matchedpanel includes a plurality of spaced bands of pred termine dep h extending cr s he bottom. of. the nan lr he l w rmost: band; being pr vid d'wit-h a. l g edge defining the bottom edge Qf. the skirt pane s. each "(if the other bands also commen ng. with a s lvag which is; knitted to the adi cent band; or bands by a drawhr i which. is kni ed in o he bo y of the fabric, that each drawthreadyaud: the knitted selvage to which it is attached term apart of and merge with the pattern of. the fabric" In the drawing comprising two sheets-of eight figuresl numbered Figs. tro s, both inclusive:

Fig, l is a front view of my ready-to wear adjustable, length; skirt; Fig. 2 isa vertical cross sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 looking in the direc-. tionof .the arrows; Pig. .3 is an enlarged;- view of -a frag-- ment of two adjoining knitted bands with the. drawthread; partlywithdrawn to-separate the bands; Fig. 4 is a, vertical cross sectional view of the lower end of the skirt showing. how the bottom edge band is removed to effect. an intermediate lengtha-djustment; Fig. 5 is a frontview oftheskirt with the bottom edge band removed from the "skirtto, mplete he i termediate. length adjustment; Fig. 6 is a front View of the lower-end of the skirt; showing how two-adjoining edge bands may be removed, to effect mini mum length adjustment; Fig. 7 is a front view of the. skirt adjusted to minimum, length and readyto. wear,;and Fig. .8 is a iragrnentary view of the bottom and, adjoining edge bands showing the position of .thepull tab.

Like reference. characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawing.

The skirt 20. (Fig. 1) is formed of a knitted fabric 21 knittedi-n matching panels. 22 and 23, which when matched together side edge, to side edge and then. suitably joined as by sewn seams form the body of the skirt (or other garment). Each panel 22, 23 is knitted, from the. bottom as the, starting end of the. Panel, andit contains a plurality of bands which are knitted in: suceessionin spaced: relation across the bottom of the panel. Each succeeding bandis knitted beginning with its own starting end, and the starting edge of each succeeding band is knitted as a ncn-ravelling finished edge. The loops of the uppermost row of stitchesin each band (see Fig. 3;) are, linkedto the. n n-r vclling edg of. the ext succeeding knitted. bandv by an independent round of stitches which. forms a part of the pattern and' which can be Withdrawn to, detach a lower (or outer) band, from the next succeeding (inner) band to shorten the panel, and to expose the non-ravelling edge of'the-said succeeding band as the selvage edge at the bottom of the shortened panel. The independent rounds of stitches maybe cotton yarns fast dyed to the same color'as the skirt yarn, and soknitted as to form a part of the pattern.

When the panels 22 and 23 are matched up side edge-to side edge the knitted bands. at. the bottom-of each. panel also match up to encircle the skirts; see Fig? wherepanel' 22 forms the front paneh-and, panel 23 forms, the rear panel, of the skirt. The panels. 22 and 231, are joined :t,0 getherinthe region. of the, hip lines. in any suitable manner as'by lines of stitches (not, shown).,..to form; the right side,- seam, 24, and the corresponding left side seam 25, of the skirt (compare Figs. 1 and 2).

The upper marginal edge 26 is folded double. and the two folded plies of the knitted fabric are joined together by one or more lines of stitches 27 to form the hemmed waist band 28. The fabric of the waist band 28 may be knitted with a yarn containing elastic, or an elastic'band 29 may be threaded through the waist band 28, to form a waist band which can'be stretched to slip over the bust and shoulders when the skirt which normally drapes from the waist line, is put on or taken off.

When the panels 22 and 23 are properly matched up and joined together to form the body of the skirt, the knitted bands at the bottom of each panel 22 and 23 also match up to encircle the skirt and form the adjoined marginal edge bands 30, 31 and 32 which are knitted one above the other with their respective non-ravelling (finished) edges in alignment and joined together at the side edges of the panels 22 and 23 by the seams 24 and 25, so that the said non-ravelling (finished) edges of the knitted edge bands 30, 31 and 32 also encircle the skirt to form the non-ravelling edges 33, 34 and 35 of their respective knitted marginal edge bands 30, 31 and 32. The lowermost non-ravelling edge 33 of the edge band 30 normally constitutes the selvage edge at the bottom of the skirt. Each marginal edge band 30, 31 and 32 can be detached either one after another or collectively to shorten the skirt from the bottom edge by a predetermined amount, and as the bands are detached, the non-ravelling edge 34 (or 35) is exposed, and when all of the stitches of the independent round of stitches have been picked off to clean off the exposed non-ravelling edge, the edge thus exposed becomes the selvage edge of the shortened ready-to-wear skirt.

To shorten the skirt to its ready-to-wear minimum predetermined length, all of the marginal edge bands 30, 31 and 32 are detached from the bottom of the skirt 20, and the'non-ravelling (finished) edge 36 which is thus exposed is cleaned off to form the selvage edge of the ready-to-wearskirt (see Fig. 7) shortened to minimum ready-to-wear length.

As best shown in Fig. 3, the loops of the row of stitches which forms the upper edge 37 of the bottom marginal edge band 30 are linked to the selvage edge 34 of the adjoining marginal edge band 31 by a round of knitting which is separate anddistinct from the rounds of knitting which form the balance of the body of the knitted fabric to form a draw-thread 38. Drawthread 38 may be a cotton thread fast dyed to the same color as the yarn in the garment. When the drawthread 38 is broken, removed and cleaned off, and the stitched seams 24 and 25 which join the front and rear panels 22 and 23 together are cut across between the marginal edge bands 30 and 31, the non-ravelling edge 34 at the bottom of the intermediate marginal edge band 31 becomes the bottom selvage edge of the skirt (Fig.

Similarly when the round of stitches which forms the double drawthread 38a and which links the upper edge of the band 31 to the finished (lower) edge of the band 32 (Fig. 5) is removed and cleaned oflf, and the stitched seams 24 and 25 are out between the said marginal edge bands .31 and 32, the skirt will be adjusted as to another intermediate length, and the finished non-ravelling edge 35 which is knitted as the starting end of the starting edge 32 of marginal edge band 32 now becomes the selvage of the bottom edge of the ready-to-wear skirt 20 as thus finished off and adjusted to the said intermediate ready-to-wear length. 7

' To shorten the skirt and adjust it to minimum length the round of knitting which forms the drawthread 38b (Fig. 6) by which the upper marginal edge band 32 is attached to the finished edge 36, is removed, and the side seams 24 and are out between the upper marginal edge band 32 and the uppermost finished edge 36 ofthe shortened skirt so that all of the marginal edge bands 30, 31

' and 32 are removed (Fig. 6) to adjust the skirt to minimum ready-to-wear length, and the selvage edge 36 now becomes 4 the bottom finished edge of the skirt when it is thus adjusted to minimum length.

By this construction a ready-to-wear knitted skirt having one or more removable marginal edge bands 30, 31, and 32, each band having a non-ravelliug finished-off or selvage edge 33, 34 and 35 at the bottom thereof, each of said edge bands being attached to its next adjoining edge band by a separate round of knitting forming the double drawthreads 38, 38a and 38b which drawthreads may form a part of the pattern of the knitted fabric of the ready-to-wear skirt 20, is provided, said drawthreads being readily removable to shorten the skirt from the maximum length at which it is sold to a skirt of some shorter length. V

The drawthread 38 is removed to shorten the skirt from maximum length (Fig. 2) to an intermediate length (Fig. 5), or by removing the drawthread 38b which is shown generally in Fig. 6, the skirt 20 may be shortened to its minimum length adjustment to form the ready-to-wear minimum length skirt illustrated in Fig. 7.

The removal of any of the rounds of knitting or stitches which form the drawthreads 38, 38a, and 38b is a simple operation which may be carried out at will by the customer or by the wearer to shorten the skirt to any of the fixed lengths selected, and when the side seams 24 and 25 are cut at the selected'fixed length, one or more of the marginal edge bands 30, 31 and 32, as the case may be, is

or are removed to produce a skirt which is shortened to the selected length but which is completely finished with a non-ravelling or selvage edge at the bottom edge of the skirt andis ready to wear without hemming or stitching. The skirt 20 may be provided with any preferred number of marginal removable edge bands 30, 31, 32 and the edge bands may be knitted in any preferred width. A readyto-wear skirt provided with two removable edge bands, each edge band being approximately one inch deep so that the skirt may be selectively shortened approximately one inch at a time for a maximum of two inches, gives good results.' The drawthreads 38, 38a and 38b, may be cotton threads which may be fast dyed to the same color as the yarn which is used to knit the skirt fabric.

'As best shown in Figs. 4 and 8, each round or twin row of stitches or drawthreads 38, 38a, 38b, by which the last row of stitches of any knitted band is linked to the selvage edge of the adjoining edge band, may be distinctively marked inside the garment as at the seam 24 (Fig. 8), by a spring-clip or pull-tab 39 Whose spring jaws 40 and 41 are normally closed under spring tension provided by the looped handle of the pull-tab but which may be forced apart when pressure is applied to the looped handle of the pull-tab 39 to enable the factory hand to thread the jaws 40 and 41 through adjoining loops of the drawthread 38, 38a or 38b (see Fig. 8), to' distinctively mark and readily distinguish each drawthread. from any other thread in the fabric.

To start removal of the drawthread, pull-tab 39 is first pulled to fringe the knitted fabric and stretch the bottom drawthread (Fig. 8) which is then broken off and removed in short lengths to progressively separate the edge band or edge'bands below the drawthread fromthe body of the skirt fabric, until the edge band is held only by the side seams 24 and 25. The side seams may now be cut along the line of separation to complete the removal of the edge band and produce a new selvage edge forming the bottom of the skirt. The complementary 'line of stitches of the round of knitting 38, 38a or 38b, as the case may be, may be withdrawn and discarded to present a clean selvage. Pull tab 39 is detached when the looped drawthread is broken. p

The round of knitting in each drawthread 38, 38a, 38b includes a bottom thread and 'a top thread. When the knitted fabric is fringed, one of these threads, preferably the bottom thread, is gradually picked up and removed by the customer, to gradually detach the edge band and expose a new selvage, and after the edge-band is completely detached, the top thread of the drawthread may be picked oil to clean ofi and completely finish the newly exposed selvage.

A tag 43 may be attached to the pull-tab 39, and the tag 43 may carry printed instructions 44 explaining how the. pull-tab 39 should be manipulated to effect length adjustment of the skirt, and how said pull-tab may be detached from the round of stitches to which it is secured if its associated round of stitches is not to be withdrawn to efieet length adjustment at the line indicated by the said pull-tab.

Any pull-tab 39 which is not used to remove its drawthread may be detached by squeezing the looped handle of pull-tab 39. This separates the jaw members 40 and 41 which may then he slipped off the loops of the stitches of the associated drawthread. The wire loop 42 serves to. limit the spread of the jaw members 40 and 41.

While the invention is particularly applicable to effect length adjustment of a knitted skirt, it should be understood that the said invention may also be applied to other parts of knitted garments where length-adjustment is desired, as for example, to the sleeve-cuff, and or to the waistband of a sweater or other knitted garment.

In the light of the foregoing disclosure, other adaptations and modifications of my invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

l. A length-adjustable ready-to-wear skirt comprising a plurality of knitted panels arranged side edge to side edge, means for securing said panels together along their side edges to form a skirt, a plurality of bands knitted one above another across the lower marginal edge of each panel in spaced relation and forming a part of the pattern, each band having a non-ravelling edge at its lower end, a round of stitches knitted between adjacent bands and passing through the uppermost row of stitches of the lower band and the non-ravelling edge of the band thereabove tolink said hands together, said rounds of stitches also forming a part of the pattern, said hands when matched up panel to panel cooperating to encircle the bottom of the skirt, the lowermost encircling band forminga selvage around the bottom of the skirt, said rounds of stitches which link said bands together constituting drawthreads, markers removably associated with said separate rounds of stitches to visually distinguish them as the drawthreads, each of said drawthreads being selectively and independently removable. to partially detach the bottom marginal edge from the skirt thereby shortening the skirt to theline of another non-ravelling edge. and converting said nonravelling edge into a .selvage around the bottom of the skirtas shortened, and said partially detached bottom marginal edge being severable at the side edges of the panels to complete the selvage and produce a finished and ready-to-wear skirt shortened to. the line of the new selvage.

2. A length-adjustable ready-to-wear knitted skirt, said skirt being knitted from the bottom as the starting end of the knitted fabric and terminating at the finishing end in the region of the waistline of a skirt of a predetermined length, the starting edge of the knitted fabric forming a selvage at the bottom of the skirt, means for variously shortening the skirt from the starting edge comprising bands knitted in succession across the skirt fabric in spaced relation to the bottom of the skirt and to each other to form a part of the pattern of the skirt-fabric, each band being stitched in the fabric by a round of stitches which constitutes a drawthread and also forms a part of the pattern of the skirt fabric, each band having a non-ravelling edge knitted across its starting edge and secured to the preceding band by one of said drawthreads, said drawthreads substantially encircling the skirt when it is formed, pull-tabs detachably attached to each of said drawthreads to mark and visibly distinguish each of said drawthreads from the balance of the pattern of the skirt fabric thereby indicating a line to which the skirt may be shortened by pulling the selected pull-tab, each drawthread being selectively removable under control of its associated pull} tab and independently of the other drawthreads to progressively detach the bottom marginal edge of the skirt from the non-raveiling edge of the next succeedingband in the skirt fabric in the operation of shortening the skirt and of converting the non-ravelling edge 'from. which said bottom marginal edge is detached into the selvage of the shortened ready-to-wear skirt, and each pull-.tab being detachable from the skirt fabric independently of its associated drawthread to produce an otherwise. finished and ready-towear skirt.

3. A length-adjustable ready-to-wear skirt comprising a plurality of knitted panels arranged side edge to side edge, means for securing said panels together along their side edges to form a skirt, a plurality of bands knitted in spaced relation across the lower marginal edge of each panel and forming a part of the pattern, each band having a non-ravelling edge at its lower end, rounds of stitches knitted between said bands to link the upper row of stitches of each band to the non-ravelling edge of the band thereabove, said rounds of stitches also forming a part, of the pattern, said bands when matched up panel to panel cooperating to encircle the bottom of the skirt, the lowermost encircling band forming a selvage around thebottom of the skirt, said rounds of stitches which. link said bands together constituting drawthreads, a pull-tab detachably attached to each of said drawthreads to mark and visibly distinguish each of said drawthreads from, thebalance of the pattern thereby indicating a line to which the skirt may be shortened by pulling the pull-tab, each drawthread being selectively removable under control of its associated pull-tab and independently of the other drawthreads to progressively detach the bottom marginal edge of the skirt thereby shortening the skirt: to the line of another non-ravelling edge to expose the said non-ravelling edge and simultaneously convert it intoa selvage for the bottom of the skirt as shortened, said bottom marginal edge being separable at the side edges of the knitted panels to fully expose the non-ravelling edge and complete the selvage of the shortened skirt, and each pull-tab being detachable from the skirt independently of its associated drawthread to produce a finished and ready-to-Wear skirt.

4. A length-selectable ready-to-wear skirt comprising a plurality of knitted panels arranged side edge to sideedge, means for securing said panels together along their side edges to form a skirt, a plurality of bands knitted in edgeto-edge non-abutting spaced relation across. the lower marginal edge of each panel to form a part, of the pattern, of the knitting, each band having a non-ravelling edge at its lowermost end, a round of knitting, the stitches of said round of knitting passing through the loops of the uppermost row of knitting of a lower band and through the loops of the lowermost row of knitting of the nonravelling edge of the band thereabove to join said hands together and to define the spacing therebetween, the stitches of said round of knitting also forming a part of the pattern, said bands when matched up panel to panel cooperating to encircle the bottom of the skirt, the lower edge of the lowermost encircling band forming a selvage around the bottom of the skirt, each round of knitting which joins said hands together constituting a drawthread, each drawthread being selectively removable to partially detach the bottom marginal edge from the skirt in the operation of shortening the skirt to the line of the nonravelling edge through which said drawthread is knitted thereby converting the non-ravelling edge into a selvage around the bottom of the skirt as selectively shortened, a marker separately associated with each separate drawthread to visually distinguish said drawthread and indicate the line to which the skirt may be selectively shortened by operating the said marker, said marker being selectively operable when the skirt is to be shortened to the line of the drawthread with which said marker is associated to initiate removal of its associated drawthread and spaced relation across the lower marginal edge of each panel and forming a part of the pattern, each band having a non-ravelling edge at its lower end, rounds of stitches knitted between said bands to link the upper row of stitches of each band to the non-ravelling edge of they band there-above, said rounds of stitches also forming a part of the pattern, said bands when matched up panel to panel cooperating to encircle the bottom of the skirt, the lowermost encircling band forming a selvage around the bottom of the skirt, said rounds of stitches which link said bands together constituting drawthre'ads, each of said drawthreads being selectively and independently removable to partially detach the bottom marginal edge from the skirt thereby shortening the skirt to the line of another non-ravelling edge and converting said non-ravelling edge into a selvage around the bottom of the skirt as shortened, a pull-tab detachably attached to each drawthread to mark and distinguish each drawthread and visibly indicate lines to which the skirt may be selectively shortened by operating the corresponding pull-tab, each pull-tab being selectivley operable when the skirt is to be shortened to the line of the drawthread to which said pull-tab is attached to initiate removal of its associated drawthread, the thus partially detached bottom marginal edge being severable at the side edges of the panels to complete the selvage and produce a finished and ready-to-wear skirt shortened to the line of the new selvage, and each pull-tab being detachable without disturbing its associated drawthreadwhen shortening to the line indicated by said pulltab is not to be eitected.

6. A length-adjustable ready-to-wear skirt comprising a plurality of knitted panels arranged side edge to side edge, means for securing said panels together along their side edges to form a skirt, a plurality of selvages knitted across the bottom marginal edge of each panel in spaced relation to each other, the lowermost selvage of each panel formand form the finished bottom edge thereof, each drawthread being removable at will to detach its associated band from the selvage thereabove to shorten the skirt and simultaneously expose another selvage edge at the bottom of the shortened skirt, individual pull-tabs detachably attached to each row of drawthreads, each pull-tab being selectively operable to initiate the removal of its associated drawthread and shorten the skirt to the line thereof and for detachment from its associated drawthread when some other length is selected as the finished length of the length-adjustable ready-to-wear skirt, and the band which is detached to shorten the skirt being further separable at the side edges of the panels to complete the length-adjusted and ready-to-wear skirt.'

7. A length-adjustable ready-to-wear skirt comprising a plurality of knitted panels arranged side edge to side edge, means for securing said panels together along their side edges to form a skirt, each panel having a lower nonravelling edge constituting a selvage, a knitted band across the lower marginal edge of each panel and forming a part of the pattern, said band having a non-ravelling edge at its lower edge, a round of stitches knitted between the upper edges of said bands and the selvage edge of the skirt panels to link the upper row of stitches of each of said knitted bands to the non-ravelling edge of the panels therea'oove, said round of stitches also forming a part of the pattern, the means for securing the side edges of the panels together being extended to connect the ends of the bands, said hands when matched up to the adjacent panels cooperating to encircle the bottom of the skirt, said round of stitches which link said bands and panels together constituting a drawthread, said drawthread being removable to partially detach the bottom marginal edge band from the skirt thereby shortening the skirt to the line of the panels non-ravelling edge, a pull-tab detachably attached to said drawthread to mark and visibly indicate the line to which the skirt may be shortened, the thus partially detached bands being severable from the side edges of the panels at the lower extremity of the panelsto complete the selvage and produce a finished and ready-to-wear skirt shortened to the line of the new selvage.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 366,105 Holroyd July 5, 1887 468,490 Williams Feb. 9, 1892 1,277,006 Weis Aug. 27,1918 1,833,705 Botts Nov. 24, 1931 1,903,873 Molins'et a1 Apr. 18, 1933 2,101,225 Rambold Dec. 7, 1937 2,113,763 Leimbrock Apr. 12, 1938 2,124,193 Hennessy July 19, 1938 2,669,726 Meisel Feb. 23, 1954 

